Before you begin
Review what really happened, not the ideal process.
Choose one recent problem. Keep the original record, notes, status history, and people involved in view so delays and workarounds are easy to see.
The goal is not to solve every shop problem. It is to understand one problem well enough to choose the next step.
Invite the right roles
Include a shop manager, a service advisor, and an operations lead. If one person fills two roles, keep both responsibilities explicit during the review.
00-05 minutes
Pick one recent problem.
Choose one stale estimate, one aging repair order, one callback, or one parts delay. Review a single record, not an entire category or a rolled-up performance number.
State the gap
- Which shop and record are in scope?
- What is the current status?
- How long has it been in that state?
- Who needs the next action?
05-12 minutes
Read the original record and note the time.
Name the original system and record when you checked it. Read the status, age, assigned person, notes, promised date, and anything blocking the work before checking calls, messages, or side spreadsheets.
Separate source facts from assumptions. If a callback or parts update is only known outside the source system, mark that as a feed or process gap.
Write the starting point this way
Original system + time checked + current status + person responsible. For example: "Shop system, checked Tuesday at 9:00 a.m., estimate open for four days, service advisor assigned."
12-18 minutes
Follow who owned the work.
Follow the record from the service advisor to the shop manager and, where needed, the operations lead. Mark each change in person, shop, or system and each wait without a named owner.
Ask at each handoff
- Who owns the record now?
- What source detail did they receive?
- What did they have to look up elsewhere?
- Who knows whether the handoff was accepted?
18-24 minutes
Choose one clear next step.
Draft the next action without automatically sending, assigning, or changing the source system. A prepared action might be an estimate follow-up, an aging-RO escalation, a callback brief, or a parts-status request.
Include the original system, time checked, relevant facts, proposed owner, and what needs a person's judgment. Preparation is not approval.
Check the prepared action
- Does it cite the source record?
- Does it distinguish facts from assumptions?
- Is the proposed next owner clear?
- Is any customer-facing language still a draft?
24-28 minutes
Name the person who will review it.
Choose the person who can approve, revise, or reject the prepared action. The reviewer may be the shop manager for a local action or the operations lead when the gap crosses shops or policy.
Define the review
- What must the reviewer verify?
- What would cause the action to be revised?
- Where is the review decision recorded?
- Who acts after approval?
Keep human review explicit for customer contact, exceptions, and any action that changes a source-system record.
28-30 minutes
Set the next check-in.
Choose when the shop manager, service advisor, and operations lead will check the record again. Record whether the prepared action was approved, whether the source state changed, and who owns the next step.
"At ______, the original system showed ______; ______ prepared ______; ______ will review it by ______."
Working terms
Use these terms consistently.
- Source system
- The shop-management or supporting system treated as the authoritative record for a stated fact.
- As-of
- The date and time when the source record was read.
- Operating gap
- A record or queue where state, timing, ownership, or the next action is unclear.
- Prepared action
- A drafted next step awaiting human review; it has not been approved or executed.
- Reviewer
- The shop manager, service advisor, or operations lead accountable for approving, revising, or rejecting the prepared action.